"We welcome the Select Committee's report. We agree with
the Committee thatregulators must make clear that sexual harassment
will result in serious sanctions andthat non-disclosure agreements
(NDAs) should not be used to silence its victims.

"The Bar Standards Board is already working in partnership with
the Bar Council andthe profession on this issue and we share the
Committee's determination to addresssexual harassment at the
Bar. In 2016, we published an extensive survey of womenat the
Bar, to which around a quarter of practising women barristers had
responded.That survey found that over 40% had faced some form of
harassment (includingsexual harassment) during their careers but
that fewer than 20% had reported it.

"As the Committee's report says, we are now preparing to issue
guidance on NDAs.We are also reviewing relevant sections of our
Handbook, which already makes veryclear that harassment is a form
of serious misconduct. So barristers (with a fewimportant
exceptions) are obliged to report harassment to us if they are
aware of it. Itis already our practice not to sanction barrister
victims for failing to reportharassment, but we would strongly
encourage them to do so."

More information about how the BSB is working with the
profession to make further progress in eliminating the
discrimination, harassment and other unfair treatment of female
barristers is available
here.

ENDS

Notes to editors

About the Bar Standards Board

Our mission is to regulate barristers and specialised legal
services businesses in England and Wales in the public interest.
For more information about what we do visit: http://bit.ly/1gwui8t

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